Nissan's Pulsar price pitch

Nissan has announced an aggressive pricing strategy for its new Pulsar small car, which will start at $19,990 plus on-road costs – the same as it was in its heyday in the 1990s and 2000s.

The new model will be available in three trim levels and will be powered by a 1.8-litre four-cylinder engine paired to a six-speed manual or optional CVT automatic transmission. The company hasn't yet released fuel consumption figures, but claimed at the launch that it will “equal best in class” and “be well under 6.9L/100km”.

The ST manual is priced at $19,990, with the CVT taking the price to $22,240. Standard equipment includes 16-inch alloy wheels with a full-size spare wheel, Bluetooth hands-free connectivity, cruise control and power windows and mirrors.

The mid-range ST-L is priced at $23,650 plus costs for the manual version and $25,900 for the automatic. It gains a better stereo with a colour touch-screen, a rear spoiler, fog-lights, LED lights, leather steering wheel and gear-knob.

The top-end Ti model comes packed with goodies, including a reversing camera, smart key with push-button start, satnav, dual-zone climate control, leather trim, xenon headlights, bigger 17-inch wheels. It's only available with a CVT automatic and is priced at $28,990.

All models in the Pulsar range come with six airbags as standard (dual front, front side, full-length curtains), but no models are offered with reversing sensors and only the top version comes with a rear-view camera.

Nissan has also remained cautious about its expectations for the car in terms of a crash-test score. Nissan Australia CEO and managing director Bill Peffer says the company will crash-test the car in Australia, but he won't speculate on whether it will score the maximum five-star rating.

“I have no expectation on ANCAP,” says Peffer. “We will test the car. I'm not going to speculate on what the rating will be - we've had that question asked 53 different ways,” he says, referring to rumours that the new Pulsar may only receive a four-star rating.

Related Content

“I'm aware that everyone else in the segment is five-star, and I'm not going to speculate on it,” Peffer says. “We believe we've got a safe product. Once we get that ANCAP test done, we will be the first to propagate it through the media.”

The Pulsar will initially be available as a sedan when it goes on sale in February, with a hatchback model to follow in about June.

The hatch will follow the same trim levels, but will also include the revamped SSS model (above) which will is powered by a 1.6-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine. The warmed over version pushes out 140kW of power and 240Nm of torque, and will be offered with a six-speed manual or CVT automatic with manual mode, albeit without steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters.

Nissan has not yet announced pricing for the SSS hatch, but it is expected to be priced above the Ti range-topper.

The company says it has benchmarked the new Pulsar against “the Corolla at the lower end and the Mazda3 at the upper end”, but Nissan's chief product specialist Toru Komizo was cautious when signalling out specific competitors to the SSS, considering its power outputs are down on the VW Golf GTI by 15kW and 40Nm, and significantly lower than those of the Mazda3 MPS (which pushes out 190kW and 380Nm).

Komizo-san says the Pulsar SSS won't be offered as a sedan.

He says: “the customer is different for the hatchback and the sedan, therefore we concentrate to make a SSS only for the hatchback.”